Trump: Shut down the government to defund Planned Parenthood

Presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Donald Trump are teaming up to promote a confrontational tactic intended to strip Planned Parenthood of government funding, a move that plays to the GOP’s conservative base but also risks a shutdown.

On Monday evening, GOP front-runner Trump officially blessed a strategy that would include a rider that defunds Planned Parenthood in a government funding bill. But Democrats have said they would oppose any bill that includes such a defunding rider, which would imperil funding legislation that Congress must pass by Sept. 30.

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That same strategy was pushed by Cruz in 2013 in an effort to defund Obamacare, culminating in a 16-day government shutdown that did little stymie the president’s signature healthcare law. Despite that history, Trump says the GOP should give the uncompromising maneuver another go.

Asked directly by conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt if it’s worth shutting down the federal government to strip Planned Parenthood’s $528 million in government funding, Trump replied: “I would.” And Trump blamed Cruz’s colleagues for abandoning him during the fight to defund Obamacare two years ago.

“If the Republicans stuck together you could have done it with Obamacare also, but the Republicans decided not to stick together and they left a few people out there like Ted Cruz,” Trump said. “If they had stuck together they wold have won that battle. I think you have to in this case [on Planned Parenthood] also, yes.”

Also on Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s effort to pass a standalone bill defunding Planned Parenthood failed, falling short of the Senate’s 60-vote threshold, 53-46. However, after a majority of the Senate voted to cut the organization’s funding it’s also not clear whether there are 60 votes to pass a government funding bill in September that does fund Planned Parenthood.

Cruz’s answer to the pickle is to “use every tool available to stop funding what appears to be a criminal enterprise,” though party leaders and several rank-and-file members have yet to either bless or rule out that strategy. Cruz has declined to criticize Trump for his continued use of bombastic rhetoric, and his reward appears to be an ally of his uncompromising approach in the center of the stage at the first Republican debate on Thursday.